Current situation

This answer does not deal with POPI directly since the relevant parts of POPI have not yet come into effect. For now, under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) you have the right to pre-emptively block unwanted direct marketing as well as to request not to be contacted again (to opt-out). Until such time as POPI comes into effect, you could try the following steps:

Industry associations

The CPA makes provision for an official ‘Do not contact’ register, but this has not yet been established. At the moment you can register on the Direct Marketing Association’s opt out database but please note that this will only stop marketing from DMA members.

If you are receiving unwanted SMS marketing you can report it to the Wireless Application Service Provider’s Association (WASPA).

For spam emails from South Africa only (.co.za emails) you could complain to the Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) by completing their online form.

Provincial Consumer Protection Offices

You could also contact your provincial Consumer Affairs Office by completing and sending this form. The provincial office will escalate the case to the National Consumer Tribunal if it sees fit.

CONTACT DETAILS OF PROVINCIAL CONSUMER AFFAIRS OFFICES (source: thencc.gov.za)
PROVINCE CONTACT PERSON TEL. NUMBER E-MAIL
Western Cape Lillian Brown 0800 007 081 consumer.protector@westerncape.gov.za
Northern Cape Theodore Smith 053 831 5562 theosmith@ncpg.gov.za
North West Keemenao Mokoena 018 387 7946 keemenaot@nwpg.gov.za
Mpumalanga Nation Nkosi 013 766 4952 nnkosi@mpg.gov.za
Limpopo Findo Motimele 015 293 8556/7 findo@ledet.gov.za
Kwa Zulu-Natal Desmond Pillay 033 264 2537/2616 pillayd@kznded.gov.za
Gauteng Jama King 011 355 8006 consumer@gauteng.gov.za
Freestate Timothy Radikeledi 051 400 9611 radikelt@detea.fs.gov.za
Eastern Cape Charnette Ferreira 0860 007 255 charnette.ferreira@dedea.gov.za /consumer.protector@dedea.gov.za

Avoidance

Unfortunately, replying to email spam can lead to more spam as you are effectively confirming your email address. If you want to contact the company involved try to find their regular business email address by searching with Google.

If you’re not sure about the site, not setting up an account and can’t see a reason for them to have your email address, you can provide a disposable email address (one that only lasts a few minutes) from 10MinuteMail.com or similar.

It’s worth checking the spam settings (if any) in your email / antivirus software. Online email services like Gmail.com seem to do a reasonable job of filtering spam by using the collective ‘voting’ of account holders to identify spam.

It may also be possible to block certain numbers on your mobile or home phone.

Other tactics

In any event, it’s best to remain calm and do the following:

  • try to document the times of contact as the ECT Act identifies certain no-go times for direct marketing calls (Sundays and public holidays; Saturdays before 9am and after 1pm; other days between 8pm and 8am).
  • Be specific about what you want, e.g. to not be contacted again
  • Get the details of the caller and company: names, websites, company being marketed
  • RICA (Act 70 of 2002) ch2(1) s4(1) states that “Any person, other than a law enforcement officer, may intercept any communication if he or she is a party to the communication…” which allows most parties of telephone calls to record them without consent.

In an amusing case in the UK the target of cold calls notified the caller that they will be invoiced for his time. He subsequently did invoice the company involved £195 and used the small claims court system to claim. His claim was settled out of court.